HOUR 3:
Tech News & Commentary
Bill in Boise, Idaho listens to the podcast and asked: “I’m reading that Sprint may be getting the iPhone. Is there any truth to that?”
The easy answer is… Maybe. Neither Sprint or Apple have made any kind of official announcement. Although that may change in the next couple weeks. We’ll have to wait and see. Of course we know Apple has an event coming up next week. Sprint has an event just a few days after that. We’ll have to wait and see.
Rumors have swirled that Sprint will get the iPhone 4, not the iPhone 5. Stephen Bye, Sprint’s CTO, appeared in San Francisco this last week, at a conference. Immediately, he was asked if Sprint would offer the iPhone – although not which version. Not surprisingly, Bye punted. He said, “I’m not in a position to comment.” He went on to say: “Even without the iPhone, for the last two or three years Sprint has done tremendously well.”
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
Willy in Columbia, Missouri listening on KFRU 1400 FM and asked: “Are there any Pads out there, equivalent to the iPad, since they cost so blooming much? Looking for something reasonably priced that will jump through all the hoops, have the belas and whistles, streaming ability, WiFi and stuff.”
Yes and no. There are tablets out there that can do what the iPad can and are roughly similar in size and a few, similar in weight as well. The problem is not “is there anything out there that’s similar” … the problem is “is there anything out there that’s similar and reasonably priced?”.
If the iPad is too expensive for you, then pretty much any capable tablet in the market will be too expensive, too. You won’t find a tablet that can do the same as the iPad and it’s competitors, or do it as well and cost half the price. It’s probably possible to charge half the price, Apple has never been one to shy away from big markups on their products, but the market doesn’t seem to be demanding it loud enough yet for other makers to see a benefit in competing on price alone.
So basically, are there tablets similar to the iPad? Yes, most Android Honeycomb tablets have similar features to the iPad, but whether you look at the Motorola Xoom, the Acer Iconia, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or any of the iPad’s competitors, you won’t find low prices, yet.
The Nook Color from Barnes & Noble is a very inexpensive Android tablet and e-reader combination device, selling for $249 in a 7″ version. That’s probably the most cost effective “quality” Android tablet you can buy right now. There are some selling for $99, but generally they use resistive screens instead of capactive ones (those require pressure rather than simply a touch) and an old version of Android (1.6 most of the time).
There are some drawbacks to the Nook Color. It can only get apps from the Barnes & Noble app store. The regular Android Market is blocked. So your selection of apps isn’t great. And while you can find any book under the sun, buying music, or movies and TV shows, is difficult.
Coming soon will be Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which will also be a 7″ Android tablet and e-reader combination device. It’s highly customized version of Android also has its own app store, but Amazon’s app store is already available for Android devices, and its selection of apps is nearly as broad as the Android market itself. Shopping for music, movies, TV, or anything else under the sun will be easy, since the device is tightly integrated into Amazon.com.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Listener John asked: “My computer will not stay online. Bright House my provider has sent nine techs out to fix the problem. They have not fixed the problem. My computer tells me I am losing my IP setting. It fixes the problem but does not last very long and I have to start over. This has gone on for at least six months. I have had my computer checked three times and there seems to be no problem with my computer. I even bought another computer and it does the same thing. I need help.”
We’d like to question the quality of the techs they employ if nine of them showed up and not one of them managed to solve your problem!
Your problem can be at:
1) the computer itself, which we can rule out since you replaced the original computer and still have the problem.
2) your internal network, which means you could be getting WiFi interference or have bad wires, depending on the type of connection, or a faulty router or modem (both of which you could’ve replaced for a lot less than the cost of a new computer).
3) it could be their problem, their lines to your home might have some problem.
It should be easy to find out what’s causing your problem, but probably more time consuming than they’d like.
If it’s your internal network they can just run some traffic through your private network without connecting to the internet, or they can plug your computer direct to your modem and see if you stay connected.
If the problem is happening outside your home they should be able to test for it and let you know, ask your neighbors too, they might be having trouble as well and the broadband company might be more willing to act if they stand to lose a large group of subscribers.
The fact that your computer is reporting a problem with the IP address points to a router problem. Is the Brighthouse cable modem connected directly to your computer, or do you have a router in between so you can share the cable modem with other computers? Typically, the router will assign your IP address for you automatically, and then it’s supposed to keep track of it for a period of time. That’s called DHCP, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
If the lease time isn’t working correctly, it’s possible that the DHCP function is dropping your address back in to the pool, assigning it to another device, thus creating an IP address conflict. Since you’ve already replaced the computer, it shouldn’t be a problem with that.
Generally, the cable tech will check everything up to their cable modem, and that’s as far as it goes. If the cable modem isn’t also your router, and you have your own router in the loop, then we’d suggest you take a strong look at that as being the problem.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guests in this hour:
Jeff Fox, Technology Editor – Consumer Reports
Do you have to spend a lot of money on security software to truly be secure? Jeff says you may not have to…
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
At the 1981 IFA, the Compact Disc had its world premiere. Philips and Sony had agreed to standardize the disc to a 4.7 inch diameter, with a maximum recording time of 74 minutes, According to legend, that recording time was requested by Sony president Nohrio Ohga, because it was enough to record Beethoven’s 9th symphony. Music is recorded in pits on the disc which are then read by a laser beam. Mass production of CDs started on August 17 1982 in Hanover, Germany at the Polygram factory. Herbert von Karajan who had been involved in the development, personally received the first disc.
That’s this week’s IFA Update brought to you by Messe-Berlin. Be sure to visit IFA-Berlin.com.
Dan in Ft. Dodge, Iowa listens on KVFD 1400 AM and asked: “I bought an Ion Profile pro USB turntable. I hooked it up to my windows 7 computer and installed the iTunes software it needs to put my LPs onto my computer. Now everything I play on my computer, comes with an echo, whether it be the LPs, CDs, anything. What could it be?”
Problems with echoing audio playback after installing iTunes are not unheard of. Before you do a lot of troubleshooting, there are a couple things you should do. First, be certain you’re running the latest version of iTunes. You can always get the latest version by browsing to itunes.apple.com.
Second, be sure you’ve got the latest device drivers installed for your computer’s audio hardware. Many users have reported the echo disappeared as soon as they updated these two things.
If that’s not it, then we need to check some settings in iTunes itself. Here’s what you should do:
1. Open iTunes Preferences > Playback.
2. Disable Crossfade songs, Sound Enhancer and Sound Check.
3. Click OK.
4. Open the Equalizer under the View menu since you’re on Windows.
5. Disable the EQ by de-selecting the checkbox in the upper left.
6. Play an affected track.
If the echo persists, then you’re probably going to need to bravely venture into the customer support channels for your turntable and see if they’ve heard of this happening.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Tom in Raleigh, North Carolina listens to the podcast and asked: “This is a great show and I’m happy to hear it again. I was ‘lucky’ to pick up the 32GB HP TouchPad for $149, figuring it would be a decent Kindle e-reader. Any advice for this? Should I wait for the port to ICS (Android Ice Cream Sandwich Update) or will someone save WebOS from HP?”
It’s fairly unlikely that you will see a lot of apps developed for WebOS in the near future, and no one so far seems to have shown too much interest in buying it from HP, so waiting for the port to Ice Cream Sandwich may not be the worst of ideas.
Keep in mind that the port is not coming from an official source, and the Android Market can filter out applications that are not supported on the device that’s browsing the market, so depending on how the team porting Android to the TouchPad chooses to identify the tablet to the Market, you may or may not see some apps.
Again, it’s unlikely you’re going to see an awful lot of new apps built exclusively for the TouchPad, so we’d say hang on to your tablet and see how the Android ports develops, right now it does look like your best option.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Rebecca in Naples, Florida listens online and asked: “I was watching the Today show and they had new high-tech gadgets on there. One was a telephone that you could hook your iPhone up to. Another one was a printer that prints pictures directly from your iPhone. You just stick your iPhone right in the printer. Wondering if you’ve heard anything about them.”
The printer is easy. While we didn’t see that episode of the Today show, the Bolle BP-10, also sold as the VuPoint Photo Cube, almost has to be the one they showed. This is a dye sublimation printer with an iPhone dock that charges your phone even as it prints your photos.
There is a free app in the iTunes Store that lets you print your photos on the 4×6 paper in brilliant colors and very sharp quality. The printer sells for $99, the ink cartridges and paper come as a single unit, $29.99 for 36 prints.
While we may not be 100% sure … the phone you’re referring to could probably be one we reported on at IFA in Berlin last month. We featured the Invoxia VoIP desktop and conference phone (NVX 610) for iOS devices in the first part of our IFA coverage. You’re welcome to watch the video of interview at IntoTomorrow.com. This desktop phone has a dock that can hold your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. It connects to your device via Bluetooth using the dedicated invoxia app to make calls. What’s cool about this VoIP phone is that instead of using your iDevice, you’ll use an actual handset. And, the unit has 8 high-quality speakers and 8 mics for conference calls. It’s really neat! But, the price tag not so much. You can find it online for under $500.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info,
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This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Energizer: Several Weather Ready 2 LED Flashlights
Logitech: Tablet Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad
Otterbox: Several protective cases, including: Defender for iPhone 4 & Defender for Motorola Xoom Tablet
Philips: Sonicare AirFloss (interdental cleaner) … Experience a microburst of clean in-between.